WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en

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Here are the children, tomorrow's adults,

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on their way to the throne.

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Tomorrow's doctors and nurses,
writers and lawyers, tomorrow's spacemen.

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This school could be in your community.
Maybe you pass it on your way to work.

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Your neighbor's child may be here,
maybe your own.

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Attendance at this school is high,
and so are the grades.

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And one reason could very well be
a noonday lunch in the National

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School Lunch Program.

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It happens every noon, Monday through Friday,
in this school, in all

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schools that take part in the
National School Lunch Program.

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It happens every noon for the pupil who
takes advantage of the lunch program.

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Lunches are planned by a local school
manager whose menus have taste appeal

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and day-to-day variety.

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A good lunch provides from a third to
one half of the student's daily needs.

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In thousands of schools across the country,
millions of school children

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participate in the National
School Lunch Program.

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Impressive? Actually not.
Only a little over one third of our

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school enrollment participates.

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The price of a lunch is low.
An average of less than 30 cents

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for those who can afford it.

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Even lower for those who can't.
Free of charge for the child of a needy family.

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Lunches are designed to be nutritious,
attractive and well-balanced.

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Type A they're called. Meats and other
foods rich in protein, a combination of

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fruits and vegetables, bread, butter, milk.
Type A.

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A nutritious lunch helps a child stay alert.
It helps teenagers make that final

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spurt of growth that develops
them into healthy grown-ups.

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It gives all youth the energy
to keep up and grow up.

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And what better use for our cultural
riches than the school lunch?

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The total food consumed in the school
lunch program represents an ever-growing

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market for our farms and our food industry.

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Of course, there are schools that just
don't have handsome cafeterias like this

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or efficient kitchen facilities of their own.

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But this hasn't stopped some schools that
lack such facilities. They still have a

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lunch program. A different kind.

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I've asked a school nutritionist to
tell us about it in her own words.

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School lunches are prepared every day in
one big central kitchen that services

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many neighboring schools with no
kitchen facilities of their own.

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The lunches we put together are all type
A and popular. Plenty of good protein.

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There's salad for vitamins and minerals.
A dressing adds flavor.

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And carbohydrates, like oven-fresh cake,
they're always easy to take.

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Every lunch is separately
and attractively wrapped.

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And it is placed in its own paper
bag to become a personal lunch.

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Well in advance of the noon hour,

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a driver picks up the bag lunches.

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Lunches are then delivered to those
schools which have taken the initiative to

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enroll in the school lunch program.

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In a big metropolitan city,
maybe 35 out of a possible 165 schools

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have a lunch hour like this.

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Bags are distributed in a large multi-purpose
room that at lunchtime becomes a

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cafeteria. The place serves the
purpose more than adequately.

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In other schools the setting
isn't always the best.

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Since there just isn't enough room,
children have to eat right at their desks.

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But they are being fed, and fed well,

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and that's what counts. More schools
should do it. Every school should do it.

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This noontime lunch may be the only real
food some of these children see all day

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long. Miss school and miss lunch.

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So it's important they're fed here,
with someone to care for them.

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Well, that's the picture in the city schools.
But the picture changes when

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it comes to the rural schools.

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Some of them are miles away from modern
highways, hidden far out of sight.

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Nevertheless, with enough determination
and courage, a school lunch

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program can happen.

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Let's hear about it from
one such teacher in charge.

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Before the school day actually starts,
my husband and I pay a visit to the

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general store to buy the day's menu.

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It's a good store, opens early,
and it's right off the main highway, so we can

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count on deliveries of fresh milk every day.

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What's more, they stock a large variety
of canned and refrigerated foods. Meats,

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fish, fruits, vegetables,
lots of the good things children like to eat.

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It's a long drive to the school,
that's for sure. A drive nobody was prepared to

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make in country is underdeveloped as ours.

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But we do it, every school day.
And it's become part of our daily routine.

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Rigidity bridges, rough bumps, and all.

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The children, bless their hearts,
get to school ahead of time these days, just

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waiting to see us drive up.

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And they can't do enough to help.

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Of course, my class is a small one,
so lunch preparations aren't what you'd call

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a hardship,
and we're mighty grateful for refrigeration.

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Keeps the milk and other perishables cool
and hot weather and fresh all morning

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long. Good for leftovers too,
but we never really count on leftovers.

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Noon time, and everything is ready.
Ready for hungry and grateful little mouths.

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Yes, it happens every noon for the lucky
school children in Vanessa Clark's

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county. Another county, another school house,

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one that's closer to the main highway.

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Here food deliveries can be made. The older

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girls get things ready for lunch,
giving the teacher a chance

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to remain with the younger children.

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The back of the school room becomes an
impromptu kitchen. Very often a hot lunch

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is prepared. The only hot food some
children can look forward to all day.

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And nowadays, the kids are so willing
that even the boys are eager to

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wash up for the noonday meal.

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The energy that a well-balanced meal gives
them will extend far beyond the lunch

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period into the late hours of the afternoon.

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It will keep the children alert,
even enthusiastic about school.

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Yes, here again, it happens every noon,
the way it can for many little rural

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classrooms all over America.

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Through the initiative and the ingenuity
of local communities with the right

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spirit, lunch programs have begun in
hundreds of isolated one and two-room

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schools where many children
can afford but a few pennies.

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The United States Department of Agriculture
donates some food, along with cash,

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to help schools buy food locally,
thus contributing about one-fifth

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of the cost of school lunches.

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But merely making lunches available
still doesn't mean that all

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children get good nutrition.

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Some kids just don't buy the school lunch.
They think it's perfectly all right,

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pretty cool, in fact, to live on snacks.

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Teenage girls are the most poorly fed of
any group in the nation. Alarming, isn't

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it? When you consider their
future jobs as wives and mothers?

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And take this youngster. Looks like he
can safely skip a meal or three, doesn't

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he? But don't be fooled.
What he really needs is a meal, a

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meal with food that counts.

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Is this happening in your community?
Find out, because many children are not

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getting good lunches at school.

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Perhaps your school is already taking part,
very well and good. But ask your

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school lunch manager if every
child is getting a good lunch.

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If not, it's time to enlist the support
of your local people. The federal

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government is putting up its share.
You of the community must take on yours.

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Work with your school officials and the
state school lunch director in your

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state's Department of Education.
They'll tell you how to get one

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going, and going soon.

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Once you do, see to it that all
children have their lunch. The

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approved Type A lunch.

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Let it happen every noon,
in every school, in every state.

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After all, you can't teach a hungry child.